Istanbul to Ephesus — Gallipoli, Troy & the Aegean in 6 Days

From the moment you clear customs, everything is handled. A private driver transfers you from the airport straight to your centrally located hotel in the Sultanahmet or Taksim district. Six days is compact, and the guided touring begins early tomorrow, so tonight is the time to stretch your legs at your own pace — the neighborhood around your hotel rewards a slow walk. Your guide will be in touch to confirm the morning plan.

You choose the side of Istanbul that interests you most:

Option A — Sultanahmet & the Old City The Hagia Sophia first — 1,500 years of layered history in a single structure, where Byzantine mosaics sit beside Ottoman calligraphy. Then the Blue Mosque, its interior lined with 20,000 handmade Iznik tiles. Walk the Hippodrome, once the center of Constantinople’s public life, then lose yourself (briefly) in the Grand Bazaar’s 4,000-plus shops.

Optional add-on: Topkapi Palace — seat of the Ottoman Empire for four centuries (entrance fee not included)

Option B — Bosphorus & Beyond Start underground at the Basilica Cistern — 336 marble columns supporting a Byzantine reservoir beneath the city streets. Browse the Spice Bazaar, then board a 1.5-hour cruise along the Bosphorus, passing Ottoman waterfront mansions and the Rumeli Fortress. End the day at the Galata Tower with a 360-degree panorama across both sides of the city.

Optional add-on: Dolmabahce Palace — 14 tons of gold leaf and Europe’s largest Bohemian crystal chandelier (entrance fee not included)

Early departure toward the Gallipoli Peninsula — roughly four hours by road from Istanbul. For visitors from Australia, New Zealand, Britain, and Turkey, this landscape carries a particular weight. Your guide provides both military strategy and the human stories behind the campaign.

You’ll visit:

• ANZAC Cove — the beach where Allied forces landed on April 25, 1915. The shoreline is largely unchanged from that morning — the same narrow strip of sand, the same steep ridges behind it. Today, memorial plaques line the path above, and the only sound is the Aegean lapping at the shore where gunfire once echoed off the cliffs.
• Lone Pine Cemetery & Memorial — marking the site of some of the most intense close-quarters fighting of the entire war
• Chunuk Bair — the New Zealand memorial at the highest point the Allied advance reached
• Kabatepe War Museum — personal letters, uniforms, and artifacts recovered from the peninsula

After the tour, ferry across the Dardanelles to Canakkale. The crossing takes about 30 minutes — long enough to process what you have just seen.

Morning at Troy, a short drive from Canakkale. What looks like a modest archaeological site is actually nine cities built one on top of the other across 4,000 years. Your guide walks you through the excavation layers — the fortification walls, the ramp, the historical context that connects Homer’s poem to the actual ground beneath your feet. The reconstructed Trojan Horse at the entrance is the photo opportunity; the stratigraphy below is the real story.

Then south to Pergamon, set on a dramatic hilltop overlooking the valley below:

• The Acropolis — home to the steepest theater in the ancient world (10,000 seats cut into the hillside) and the ruins of a library that once rivaled Alexandria’s
• The Asklepion — an ancient medical center where patients received treatment through water therapy, herbal remedies, and dream analysis. It was the most advanced healing facility of its time.

Continue south along the Aegean coast to Kusadasi (or Selcuk) for the night.

A full day at the most complete classical city in the eastern Mediterranean. Ephesus was a city of 250,000 at its peak — the commercial and religious hub of Roman Asia Minor, and home to one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Your guide takes you through:

• The Library of Celsus — the two-story facade built in 117 AD, with four statues in its niches representing Sophia (wisdom), Episteme (knowledge), Ennoia (intelligence), and Arete (virtue) — the qualities Romans associated with a well-stocked library of 12,000 scrolls
• The Great Theater — 25,000 seats used for drama, political assemblies, and gladiatorial combat. St. Paul preached here; the crowd that gathered was not entirely receptive
• The Temple of Hadrian — detailed reliefs depicting the founding myths of Ephesus
• The House of the Virgin Mary — a small hilltop chapel recognized by the Vatican as a pilgrimage site
• The Temple of Artemis — a single column marks where the Wonder once stood

Lunch is included today.

After Ephesus, transfer to Izmir airport for your domestic flight back to Istanbul.

Breakfast at your hotel. Your driver collects you 3-4 hours before your international flight for a smooth airport transfer. Six days, five cities, and every logistic handled from landing to departure.